Dr. Jonny Bowdenhttps://jonnybowden.com
Healthy Living Without The HypeSun, 13 Jan 2019 02:17:17 +0000en-UShourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=5.0.3The Medical Medium and the Celery Juice Crazehttps://jonnybowden.com/healthy-living/the-medical-medium-and-his-celery-juice-cleanse/
https://jonnybowden.com/healthy-living/the-medical-medium-and-his-celery-juice-cleanse/#respondSun, 30 Dec 2018 22:47:56 +0000https://jonnybowden.com/?p=44623I live in LA, a city not known for its skepticism and critical thinking when it comes to health fads. And one of the biggest right now is a morning drink of celery juice.. Proponents state that stand-alone celery juice confers a myriad of health benefits and drinking it every morning has some mysterious cleansing powers different from that of any other green juice or vegetable.

And how do they know this?

The Medical Medium told them.

(If you don’t know who the Medical Medium is, all you really need to know about him can be found HERE.)

Let me be clear: I don’t think there’s anything wrong with celery juice. In fact, I consume it every day as part of my fresh-made juice of broccoli, kale, celery, carrots, apples, turmeric, ginger and lemon.

No, my problem isn’t with celery juice. It’s with the Medical Medium.

According to the Medical Medium—whose success a cynic might attribute to the fact that the privileged class in LA and New York City have entirely too much time on their hands—celery contains many different kinds of salt which have not yet been discovered by science. (The Medical Medium claims to get this knowledge in advance of medical science from spiritual visions.) These salts perform their (unidentified) magic best when they are consumed alone. (How does he know this? See answer above).

The premise of the Medical Medium is that you don’t need no stinkin’ degree to diagnose cancer, or anything else for that matter. The Medical Medium “sees” illness and can prescribe herbs, natural compounds and foods to combat just about any condition.

And people are eating this up.

Believe me, I understand the frustration with conventional medicine and the desire for alternative solutions. I’ve been in the trenches fighting the pharmaceutical-medical-industrial complex for 28 years, and am firmly on the side of what could be called “alternative”, at least compared to the medicine of the prescription pad. I don’t blame anyone looking for answers they haven’t been able to get elsewhere. And I’m quite willing to accept that there are people who are able to “hear” or envision messages of wisdom that others can’t. I was a big fan of Abraham, the collective voice of spirits that spoke to Esther Hicks and delivered inspiring and wonderful messages of compassion, acceptance, and kindness.

This isn’t that.

The Medical Medium isn’t just telling people to drink some green juice. He’s giving medical diagnoses. Which only he can see and to which only he has the solution. And that’s a very, very dangerous thing.

So to all you people who follow the advice of the Medical Medium, I’d like you to imagine the following hypothetical situation:

I have a friend named Bruce who is an airplane pilot intuitive. He’s never had an aerospace education, never went to pilot school, never studied an instrument panel, and wouldn’t know a Delta Airbus 350 from a minivan. But Bruce has an extraordinary gift—he can mysteriously intuit exactly how to fly a plane safely. Seriously. He gets this knowledge from God who speaks to him in visions and dreams, and he believes that knowledge is unimpeachable and he can therefore navigate a flight and keep everyone safe.

Here’s the question:

Would you get on a flight with Bruce at the controls?

If your answer is “Hell no!” but you’re taking health advice from the Medical Medium, then let me ask you this: What’s the difference?

If your answer is “yes”, and you’re taking health advice from the Medical Medium, well, at least you’re consistent.

But you should probably buy some life insurance.

]]>https://jonnybowden.com/healthy-living/the-medical-medium-and-his-celery-juice-cleanse/feed/0The Most Important Vitamin We Never Talk Abouthttps://jonnybowden.com/healthy-living/the-most-important-vitamin-we-never-talk-about/
https://jonnybowden.com/healthy-living/the-most-important-vitamin-we-never-talk-about/#respondFri, 14 Dec 2018 22:05:20 +0000https://jonnybowden.com/?p=44608Vitamin K is finally getting the attention—and the respect—it so richly deserves. It’s comprised of two structurally related (but very different acting) compounds, vitamin K1 and vitamin K2. Vitamin K1 is primarily found in green leafy plants such as lettuce and spinach. Vitamin K2 is primarily synthesized by bacteria in the colon, although it’s available in some foods (see below).

Vitamin K1 is found in leafy greens—even lettuce—so it’s relatively easy to get from your diet. Vitamin K2 is trickier. It’s found mainly in animal foods like egg yolks, cheese and dark chicken meet or in fermented foods like natto and sauerkraut.

The most important thing that vitamin K1 does is help the body with clotting. That’s why doctors tell you to “avoid” green leafy vegetables when you’re on Coumadin, a popular drug which is frequently given to thin the blood of patients who are prone to blood clots.
(The advice to take Coumadin while avoiding green leafy vegetables may be well past its expiration date at this point, but that’s a discussion for another day.)

Vitamin K2, on the other hand, does a whole bunch of other things having nothing to do with clotting. For one thing, it’s vitally important for strong healthy bones. Why? Because vitamin K is necessary to make a bone-related protein called osteocalcin. Without vitamin K, osteocalcin either doesn’t get made or doesn’t work very well, and without osteocalcin minerals like calcium can’t bind to bone. So, in a metaphorical sense, vitamin K acts like a traffic cop, making sure calcium winds up where it belongs—in the bones (and teeth)—and not where it doesn’t (in the arteries!). And that brings us to the second, very important role of vitamin K2 in heart health.

See, keeping calcium in the bones where it belongs is only one side of the coin. The other side is keeping calcium out of the arteries, where it most definitely does not belong! (Remember “hardening of the arteries?” Well, that’s calcium showing up where it has no business being!) That’s why vitamin K2 is gaining such a strong reputation as a heart-healthy nutrient—which it is!

Vitamin K2 is found in fermented foods, such as sauerkraut, natto, and some cheeses (many of which most people don’t eat). The situation is made worse by the fact that antibiotics wipe out so many of the bacteria that normally produce vitamin K2 in the colon. Because I don’t think most people get enough K (especially K2), I almost always recommend supplementing.

Vitamin K2 comes in two forms—MK4 and MK7. Both are good, but the MK7 is longer acting. Remember to take vitamin K with a meal containing some fat. Along with vitamins A, D and E, vitamin K is a fat-soluble vitamin and better absorbed when consumed with some healthy fat.

At least once a year, an interviewer will ask me to name the ten supplements I think are most important for their readers to take. I always explain that no routine will suit everyone and that everybody’s different. That said, I do have a basic list of go-to supplements that I think just about everyone would benefit from. A couple of years ago I added vitamin K2 to that list of core supplements. I now consider it cornerstone nutrient for both the heart and the bones.

Weider Global Nutrition just launched a K2 product I like a lot called Artery Health which combines the MK-7 form of K2 with a couple of powerful antioxidants like ginger. And it’s easy to find—you can get it all over, including Costco and Amazon and a whole bunch of other places.

]]>https://jonnybowden.com/healthy-living/the-most-important-vitamin-we-never-talk-about/feed/0The New Cholesterol Guidelines: Why They Suckhttps://jonnybowden.com/healthy-living/cholesterol/the-new-cholesterol-guidelines-why-they-suck/
https://jonnybowden.com/healthy-living/cholesterol/the-new-cholesterol-guidelines-why-they-suck/#commentsWed, 21 Nov 2018 17:10:31 +0000https://jonnybowden.com/?p=44429The release of the new cholesterol guidelines on Nov. 10, 2018, shows that the American Heart Association and Co. have doubled down on the cholesterol theory of heart disease and the related notion that statins are the solution to everything.

The new guidelines say we should aim for lower LDL numbers—“as low as possible, in some cases less than 70”, said GMA’s chief medical correspondent Dr. Jen Ashton. When asked if statins were safe, Ashton replied emphatically, “One-hundred percent!” adding that we should use statins even more aggressively in pursuit of lower cholesterol numbers—“at whatever dose is necessary”, says Ashton)

It’s the greatest marketing plan for a drug I’ve seen in my lifetime. And it will undoubtedly work.

The AHA has evidentially learned the lesson of modern-day politics: double down and play to your base. In this case, the “base” consists of doctors and patients who have never shown much inclination to question the party line on cholesterol, and seem blissfully unaware of the raging debate about the continued relevance of cholesterol lowering as we know it.

The debate on cholesterol and heart disease affects their life about as much as the Russia investigation impacts the life of a farmer in Iowa, which is to say not at all. The overworked docs get a lot of their info from pharmaceutical reps and from studies sponsored by Big Pharma. And the patients listen to the doctor. It’s a nice solid base from which you can control the narrative (and the policies) on heart disease and the drugs that treat it. Modern-day politics shows that if you have an enthusiastic base that supports a policy—like lowering cholesterol because it “causes heart disease” — your policy can win the day, even when it’s completely wrong.

As Upton Sinclair said, “It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it”.

Screening should start at age 2. On what planet was that, again?

The new guidelines also suggest screening for cholesterol at as early as two years old.

Let’s look at that one for just a sec, shall we? Fact one: Cholesterol is absolutely essential to brain development. You need it for memory and thinking. Without cholesterol, your brain is pretty much screwed. Fact two: Your kid’s brain doesn’t get fully developed until about age 25 when the cerebral cortex finally comes online.

Now put those two facts together and do the math.

We still have free speech in this country, so let me say this very clearly: In my opinion, putting a child with a developing cholesterol-dependent brain on a cholesterol lowering medication is medical malpractice.

Statins produce a laundry list of side effects—from muscle pain to memory loss to plunging libido—and, as Golumb’s research shows, about 65% of doctors don’t report these ADR’s (adverse drug reactions) to the FDA.

Why, you ask? The doctors don’t “believe” these side effects were caused by statins, (which, of course, is exactly what the statin manufacturers say! Quelle surprise!) Research shows that most doctors strongly believe they themselves are not susceptible to drug- company marketing influences, though the research shows the exact opposite.

The next era in personalized medicine? Not so fast…

The new guidelines are being marketed as the “next phase in personalized medicine”. Not even close. What the AMA and Co. is doing here a classic marketing ploy—take a buzzword everyone is talking about (personalized medicine) and slap it on your product so it seems relevant, even if your product is as unrelated to the buzzword as a peacock is to a salamander.

Personalized medicine—which nearly everyone agrees is the future of medicine and nutrition—involves very specialized and detailed genetic testing that can help suggest the proper dose of any medicine or nutrient for a given individual. The new cholesterol guidelines have zero to do with cardiometabolic genetic testing, and everything to do with giving this old, tired package of recycled and outdated ideas the appearance of being “current” and “cool”.

Did someone mention triglycerides?

It’s worth noting that, in this 120-or-so page report, no guidelines were provided for the treatment of triglycerides. This is a clue to the real agenda of the AHA, a clue that’s hiding in plain sight. Here’s why.

Triglycerides—a form of fat that can be measured in the blood—are a serious risk factor for heart attack and stroke. The very telling Triglyceride: HDL ratio—which you can calculate yourself from any blood test (just divide HDL number into Triglyceride number)—is an extremely important indicator of your risk for cardiovascular disease (as well as other cardiometabolic diseases like diabetes). We want triglycerides to be low, and since the guidelines are, after all, about lowering blood lipids (both cholesterol and triglycerides fit into that category), you’d think someone would address the triglyceride problem.

Nope. No recommendation from the committee on how to lower triglycerides.

Here’s my guess as to why. There’s no good drug for lowering triglycerides.

However, there is a treatment for high triglycerides that’s effective close to 100% of the time. It’s called a low-carb diet.

In study after study after study (just Google Professor Jeff Volek) triglycerides drop like a rock on a very low-carb diet, and with it the risk factors for heart disease.

Will the real agenda please stand up?

It’s my opinion that the main agenda of the committee wasn’t lowering the risk for heart disease. The main agenda of the committee was expanding the market for statin drugs.

And they couldn’t have written a better business plan to accomplish that than the new cholesterol guidelines. Congratulations, boys. Statin shareholders, get out your kazoos. The rest of us should start getting second opinions from doctors trained in functional medicine, and others—like licensed NDs—who are not in the powerful shadow of statin drug makers.

And please—if you want my opinion– run the other way if your doctor suggests a statin for your two-year-old.

]]>https://jonnybowden.com/media/how-to-spring-clean-your-diet/feed/0Tweaks and Tricks to get the Most Out of Your Diethttps://jonnybowden.com/media/tweaks-and-tricks-to-get-the-most-out-of-your-diet/
https://jonnybowden.com/media/tweaks-and-tricks-to-get-the-most-out-of-your-diet/#respondTue, 23 Oct 2018 14:08:10 +0000http://bigbenmedia.com/jonnybowden/?p=44083]]>

KSUI- SAN DIEGO, CA – I talk about ways to make your diet even better on San Diego’s favorite morning show, Good Morning San Diego.

FOX-29 – KABB-TV SAN ANTONIO, TX – I’ve been on this show a million times and I love it! Listen carefully and you’ll hear a light rhythmic soundscape underneath our interview—the work of their in-house DJ, local legend Xavier “The Freakin Rican” Garcia! In this clip, I talk to host Kimberly Crawford about three things that men ignore that can lead to big health consequences!

KENS-5 TV—SAN ANTONIO, TX – I love this show, the hosts are always so into health, fitness and nutrition. On this clip I talk about three things men ignore—snoring, their bellies, and their prostates. I give a suggestion for what to do about each one.

FOX-6 – WITI TV – MILWAUKEE, WI – The hosts on this show had a personal interest in the diet and their questions are very typical of what I’m hearing around the country as well as on social media. If you’re new to keto, this is a good intro!

FOX-31 – KWGN-TV – DENVER, COLORADO – – I talk about three popular diets—keto, whole 30 and raw foods—their benefits and their potential pitfalls. I talk about how they overlap, what they accomplish, and how to do them right!

]]>https://jonnybowden.com/media/get-a-summer-body-with-dr-jonny/feed/0Don’t Politicize The Death of Charles Poliquinhttps://jonnybowden.com/healthy-living/weight-management/dont-politicize-the-death-of-charles-poliquin/
https://jonnybowden.com/healthy-living/weight-management/dont-politicize-the-death-of-charles-poliquin/#respondSat, 29 Sep 2018 21:56:46 +0000https://jonnybowden.com/?p=44497The death of the legendary trainer and strength coach Charles Poliquin at the age of 57 was a tragedy. It would be even more of a tragedy to politicize his death.

Let me explain.

In case you hadn’t noticed, debates about nutrition and health have started to resemble debates in the U.S. congress. They’re acrimonious, tribal, and often ill-tempered: your side is “wrong”, my side is “right” and don’t bother me with any facts that don’t fit my narrative.

Charles was an outspoken advocate of lower carb, higher fat diets. He held thoughtful, educated positions and the research was on his side.

But that isn’t going to stop the inevitable (and partisan) proliferation of comments such as, “See? His high-fat diet did him in and he died of a heart attack! We should all be vegans!”

That’s the absolute last thing Charles would want to happen. He’d hate the fact that anyone would use his death as “evidence” for out-of-date theories about fat, animal products, cholesterol and heart disease. And he’d have a few choice words for the people who’d make that argument.

Because here’s the uncomfortable fact that we all need to face: Sometimes shit happens, and it’s not always because of anything we did or didn’t do. It just….happens.

Every time an icon of the health movement dies early or unexpectedly, people struggle with how to make sense of it. Those of us who answer questions on health for a living get a flood of comments saying, “He did all the right things, and he died anyway, so what’s the purpose of doing the right things?”

This happened when running guru Jim Fixx died at age 52, it happened when nutritionist Shari Lieberman died of ovarian cancer at 51, and it happened when Robert Crayhon—a mentor of both mine and Charles’- died at 49 of colon cancer.

But here’s the thing. People die wearing seat belts, but that doesn’t make wearing seat belts a bad idea. Wearing seat belts reduces the risk of dying in a car crash but it doesn’t reduce it to zero. Seat belts still significantly reduce the risk of fatalities and you’re an idiot if you don’t use them.

And it’s the same with diet. Charles, Robert and Sheri died eating Paleo-centric diets, but do we have any idea how many lives were saved by eating those very same diets? Conversely, do we have any idea how many deaths from heart disease and cancer were directly caused by eating the low-fat high-carb diet that health authorities recommend and that Charles (and Robert, and Shari) wisely shunned?

If there’s one thing I’ve learned from 28 years in the health professions—and I’m 100% sure my friend Charles would agree with this statement—it’s this: There are more factors influencing health outcomes than anyone ever dreamed of even a decade ago. Genetics. Epigenetics. Nutragenomics. SNPPS (slight variations in genes that have wide-ranging consequences). The microbiome. Exposures to chemicals and toxins. Hormones, neurotransmitters, psychoneuroimmunology, meal timing, SIBO, gluten—you name it, there’s a faction in nutrition that thinks it explains everything.

So listen up, people. Nothing explains everything. Sometimes some of those abovementioned factors—and many that we don’t even know about yet—collide like random meteorites and result in a stressor at a vulnerable point in your metabolism, and before you know it you’re looking at an autoimmune disease, a cancer, or a heart attack.

As Dr. Mark Houston—a great friend of both Charles and myself—used to say, “The body has only a finite number of ways to respond to an infinite number of stressors”.

A heart attack is one of those ways.

Losing Charles is very sad. But it would be even sadder if anyone believed we lost him because he ate a healthy, low-carb diet.